Preservation Buffalo Niagara is recognizing outstanding preservation projects and those contributing to preservation efforts at its annual awards ceremony May 30, 11:30 AM in the Statler’s Golden Ballroom. Award categories were established to acknowledge distinguished contributions to our community through preservation activity. Recipients will be recognized in several areas including: preservation craft; rehabilitation/adaptive re-use; stewardship; neighborhood conservation; planning/reconstruction; and preservation journalism.
Volunteer Meeting
The Buffalo Religious Art Center is about to kick off the new season with a volunteer meeting this Saturday, April 28thin the church at 10 am. We’re looking forward to see all our volunteers and hoping to see some new faces, as well!
One very exciting topic we’ll be discussing is the 100th anniversary of Saint Francis Xavier Church!
March Wedding
The Buffalo Religious Art Center hosted their first wedding this past March. It was an intimate relaxed ceremony held in the evening. A fun fact was learned during the signing of the marriage certificate, it was the judge’s first ceremony, as well.
The BRAC is looking forward to taking part in future happy events and working with more wonderful couples. This first one was truly a pleasure.
A New Saint Comes to Live at the BRAC
This past August the Buffalo Religious Art Center acquired a new statue. It’s the statue of St. Stanislaus Kostka (also spelled Koskkawhich). For many years, he had resided in the basement of Assumption Church on Amherst Street.
St Stanislaus died at the very early age of 19, just after becoming a novice. For this reason he isdepicted as a young man wearing a vestment (a long headdress worn by bishops and senior abbots as a symbol of office). It was also said, that he was loved by children. So, also many times, he is shown holding a child.
Display Cases!
Our progress continues! Recently, we received four display cases. At the moment we’re still figuring out where they will be located, but we do know what will fill them.
Two of the four are going to house two statues of the Infant of Prague. The array of outfits are going to be the backdrop for the statues. I literally gasped when I saw the outfits. Their colors are brilliant. I then pulled them from the plastic covers and felt the material. They are made from only the best fabric. The velvet on some was so rich. And to think they were all handmade by older women of the church that the Infants came from – such patience. I have to admit, I was a little envious of some of the dresses. If only I was a little shorter
More on the Infant of Prague:
The Harmonia Chamber Singers
“The Harmonia Chamber Singers” sang at the Buff Rel Ats Center on Sunday May 22, 2011.
Harmonia was voted Best Vocal Ensemble in Artvoice’s Best of Buffalo 2011. We would like to thank Robert Pacillo, Director and we hope to see you again next year for another concert!!
Scholorship winner, Peter Gonciarz, brings 1932 Schlick organ to life
The Buffalo Religious Art Center was alive with the hum of pipe organ this past week. Peter Gonciarz, a senior at Villa Maria College, showed off his talent by playing a variety of different pieces. He began playing at age 13 when his church paid for organ lessons, and he has been playing ever since. By now, he has played at a number of churches.
It was about a year ago that Peter called up the B.R.A.C. to ask if he could come play. He had heard that the church still had it’s original 1932 Schlicker organ. The organ was hand-made right at the Schlicker Organ Company in North Tonawanda. Like other church organs, it was built for that church. No where else would it’s sound ring truer. That, matched with such a talented player, creates an incredibly angelic sound.
Guardian Angel Sculpture
Ferdinand Frohe: Stained Glass Windows
Star of David (stained glass)
Wiegand Collection
Stations of the Cross
Judaica Artifacts: Ten Commandments
New Website for a New Season!
We’ve recently done a complete website makeover and are excited to put it to use during our new 2010 season! Let us know what you think, and we look forward to seeing you all this Spring!
In the Cleveland News!
We were recently featured in the Plain Dealer (based in Cleveland, OH). Check out the article here:
http://blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2010/02/museum_in_closed_catholic_chur.html
Medieval & Renaissance Choral Music at BRAC
by Doreen E. DeBoth
The Buffalo Religious Arts Center (formerly St. Francis Xavier RC Church at East & Amherst Sts.) was the venue for the Western NY Chorale on Sunday afternoon.
Under the musical direction of Herbert Tinney, sixteen members of the group with heavenly voices sang pieces that were written in the eleventh through the sixteenth centuries. Some were sung in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin with soloists interspersed throughout the program.
Halfway through Tinney stopped to give the audience an in-depth explanation of the evolution of music that took place during these centuries and to explain stories that were within the musical piece.
This style of music has a very calming and spiritual element that inspires peace within the listener. The twelve figures in the mural above the chorale was the perfect backdrop for creating a setting for this. They are painted in the Beuronese style that was founded by Benedictine monks at the end of the nineteenth century.
Characteristic of this style was to create a tranquil place of worship. The band of motionless figures above was repeated in the choir below as they were very still, only moving their mouths while singing.
An audience of about thirty attended the performance which will be repeated on Tuesday, May 19 (8 pm) at Parkside Lutheran Church, located at 2 Wallace Avenue in Buffalo. The Chorale would like to come back to BRAC for another performance, only this time including music played on the historic 1932 Herman Schickler organ.
If you would just like to take in the murals and artifacts of the Center, you can take a tour on Saturday at noon, Sunday at 1 pm or large groups can book reservations for weekdays by visiting their website at buffaloreligious arts.org/.
National Historic Register
by William Koch
The Buffalo Religious Arts Center is pleased to announce that the former St. Francis Xavier Church, Rectory and School have been added to the National Historic Register as of August 20th, 2009.
This National Historic Register recognition highlights not only the architectural significance of the complex, but also its importance to the history of Buffalo. All three buildings on the St. Francis Xavier Complex were included in the designation.
The parish of St. Francis Xavier dates from the 1850’s, but the oldest structure is the sturdy three story school built in 1894.
The Romanesque Basilica style church, designed by Max Beierl of the locally prominent firm Lansing and Beierl, was completed in 1913 and contains stunning murals by Benedictine Monk Fr. Raphael Pfisterer and unique stained glass windows by F.X. Zettler. These windows were made in Munich, Germany.
St. Francis Xavier Church closed as a parish in 2007. Since then the Buffalo Religious Arts Center has been caring for the maintenance and preservation of these three buildings.
The Buffalo Religious Arts Center is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
Arts Center Wins Award From the University of Buffalo
When we started our internship program, our goals were simple: receive high quality assistance with our tough projects, and hopefully provide different kind of learning experience for the students. Receiving an award for our program was never a thought.
But that’s just what happened last week, when the Buffalo Religious Arts Center was named the Outstanding Non-Profit Internship Site for 2009 by the UB School of Management. It was a surprising honor, but a great testament to our wonderful interns, who have done marketing research, started our accounting books, and putting us on FaceBook, among many other projects.
Thank you to Carrie Gardner, the Director of the program, for this recognition. With the help of our interns, volunteers, members, and friends, the Religious Arts Center is growing every day.
New Acquisition: Nativity Set from St. Gerard's Church
The Christmas season may be over for another year, but at the Buffalo Religious Arts Center, we are still proud to show off some newly acquired items with a Christmas theme.
The parish of Blessed Trinity Church has generously donated the full nativity set from the former Saint Gerard’s Church, a parish it merged with in 2008. The complete set, which includes over two dozen pieces, is of great cultural and historic value to the people of Buffalo.
Saint Gerard’s Church was founded in 1911, and is a one-third reproduction of St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls in Rome. While this nativity set was not present from the beginning, it is an important part of religious activity for a large portion of St. Gerard’s history, and the Buffalo Religious Arts Center is proud to be its new home.
The Religious Arts Center is now home to a variety of pieces, great and small, high art and cultural touchstones, and all of historic value that tell the story of the faithful in Western New York. Check back soon for more information on future tours.
Art Focus – D'Arcangelo Altar
by Brian Castner
Today’s art focus is on this small side altar, which hasn’t been on display or available for viewing by to the public before now.
A product of the D’Arcangelo Studios, an old Buffalo studio of catholic and religious art, this altar was created in the early 1920’s. It was a special order for a priest who died before it was completed. The new priest at the church did not wish to take receipt for it, so it stayed at the D’Arcangelo Studios forseventy years.
Our anonymous donor, a friend of the D’Arcangelo family, watched over it for the last ten years, before generously donating it in memory of the D’Arcangelo family and descendants.
The D’Arcangelo Studio produced religious art for churches all overBuffalo, including statues, frescoes, murals and altars. For example, the two large murals under the choir loft at Saint Ann’s Church and Shrine, on Broadway, are the work of D’Arcangelo. This altar, of Baroque style and featuring angels and the dove representing the Holy Spirit, is an important page in the history of religious art in Buffalo, as it represents a studio with a great history of work in Buffalo’s churches.